IF everything that Alan Milburn has initiated as Health Secretary is delivered, it is no exaggeration to say that he will be remembered as one of the most significant politicians to hold that Cabinet position.

It is a big if, but his promises do bear repeating.

Mr Milburn has set in train the most radical review of the National Health Service in a generation which will be backed over the next four years with an unprecedented injection of funding - a 35 per cent increase in the NHS budget.

A year ago today, our colleague Ian Weir died aged 38 from a second heart attack. He had waited seven months to see a consultant about having a triple heart bypass operation.

As has been well documented in The Northern Echo, Mr Milburn responded positively to the national campaign which followed Ian's death and launched a programme aimed at reducing the waiting times for heart bypass surgery in this country.

This programme involves extra funding for more bypass surgery, a greater emphasis on training specialists, and the appointment of the country's first "heart tsar" to monitor and drive progress.

Today we highlight another tragic case here in the North-East. Deputy headteacher Bob Golightly, 53, died of a heart attack eight months after being told he needed a triple heart bypass operation.

The circumstances surrounding his death were revealed on the day Mr Milburn confirmed that the Government is considering a radical plan to ensure no NHS patient waits more than three months for an operation.

This announcement - on top of the others made in the past year during Mr Milburn's tenure as Health Secretary - is extremely promising. In fact, if it comes to pass, the eradication of NHS waiting lists will be one of this Government's very greatest achievements.

But that is another very big if. Where will the money come from? The funding needed to achieve this will make the unprecedented 35 per cent rise look like small change.

However, the Government, and Mr Milburn, must at least have a serious attempt at taking this radical step.

The case of Ian Weir a year ago focused public opinion nationally on the scandal of heart care in this country, where people wait much longer for heart bypass operations than patients in other European countries.

The case of Bob Golightly underlines the fact that the delivery of the Government's other promises and future plans cannot come a second too soon.